Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Price Target Raised to $380.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) had its price target raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $340.00 to $380.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.02% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on ANET. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $320.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $349.00 to $432.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Arista Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $339.88.

Arista Networks Trading Down 2.8 %

ANET opened at $311.42 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $330.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $296.56. Arista Networks has a 1-year low of $150.72 and a 1-year high of $376.50. The stock has a market cap of $97.59 billion, a PE ratio of 43.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.11.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.38. Arista Networks had a net margin of 37.64% and a return on equity of 31.12%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. Arista Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Arista Networks announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.20 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 14,416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.03, for a total transaction of $4,700,048.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 252,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,284,103.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 14,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.03, for a total transaction of $4,700,048.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 252,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,284,103.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.40, for a total value of $588,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,176,102.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,616 shares of company stock valued at $68,045,190 over the last quarter. 3.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Arista Networks by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,494,876 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,946,338,000 after buying an additional 1,596,040 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,136,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,387,211,000 after purchasing an additional 55,312 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,049,416 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $884,270,000 after purchasing an additional 25,196 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Arista Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $881,848,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $586,051,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications.